WASHINGTON — The fight over a popular health insurance program for children is intensifying, with President Bush now leading efforts to block a major expansion of the program, which is a top priority for Congressional Democrats. The seemingly uncontroversial goal of insuring more children has become the focus of an ideological battle between the White House and Congress. The fight epitomizes fundamental disagreements over the future of the nation’s health care system and the role of government. Democrats have proposed a major expansion of the program, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, to cover more youngsters with a substantial increase in federal spending. Administration officials have denounced the Democratic proposal as a step toward government-run health care for all. They said it would speed the erosion of private insurance coverage. And they oppose two of the main ideas contemplated by Democrats to finance expanded coverage for children: an increase in the federal tobacco tax and cuts in Medicare payments to private insurance companies caring for the elderly. White House objections to the Democratic plan are ‘philosophical and ideological,’ said Allan B. Hubbard, assistant to the president for economic policy. In an interview, he said the Democrats’ […]
Teens who turn up their noses to fruit and fish may be undermining their lung health, new research released Monday suggests. The work, based on the study of 2,112 American and Canadian teenagers, found an association between good lung function and levels of dietary intake of fruit and fish rich in omega 3 fatty acids. Teens who ate less of these foods had higher rates of asthma, wheezing and symptoms of chronic bronchitis such as cough and phlegm, said the researchers, from the Harvard School of Public Health and Health Canada. ‘The walk-away (message) is that . . . if your diet is generally lacking in these types of things your risk of having and continuing to have symptoms associated with chronic bronchitis and asthma are increased,’ said Mark Raizenne, director of Health Canada’s sustainable development division. ‘Even in adolescence if you’re starting to have poor nutrition and you’re starting to have some of these poor habits, you will probably start having the symptoms that are associated with long-term respiratory problems.’ ‘And it starts that early. Don’t be surprised in your 20s and 30s if you had those problems earlier on.’ Raizenne was formerly […]
WASHINGTON — A progress report on Iraq will conclude that the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad has not met any of its targets for political, economic and other reform, speeding up the Bush administration’s reckoning on what to do next, a U.S. official said Monday. One likely result of the report will be a vastly accelerated debate among President Bush’s top aides on withdrawing troops and scaling back the U.S. presence in Iraq. The ‘pivot point’ for addressing the matter will no longer be Sept. 15, as initially envisioned, when a full report on Bush’s so-called ‘surge’ plan is due, but instead will come this week when the interim mid-July assessment is released, the official said. ‘The facts are not in question,’ the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the draft is still under discussion. ‘The real question is how the White House proceeds with a post-surge strategy in light of the report.’ The report, required by law, is expected to be delivered to Capitol Hill by Thursday or Friday, as the Senate takes up a $649 billion defense policy bill and votes on a Democratic amendment ordering troop withdrawals to begin […]
SAN FRANCISCO — Crude-oil supplies will be tighter in coming years, with a ‘supply crunch’ after 2010 as OPEC’s spare production capacity evaporates, the International Energy Agency predicted Monday. Supplies will tighten because economic growth will drive up demand and offset significant increases in oil-refining capacity, the IEA said, according to media reports citing the agency’s annual medium-term forecast. The IEA, which monitors energy markets for the world’s 26 most-advanced economies, doesn’t forecast oil prices, but its conclusions imply consumers should expect continued upward pressure on energy costs, The Wall Street Journal reported in its online edition, See Wall Street Journal story (subscription required). ‘Oil and gas price pressures look set to remain in the coming years,’ the IEA reported, according to the Journal. ‘Slower-than-expected (gross-domestic-product) growth may provide a breathing space, but it is abundantly clear that if the path of demand doesn’t change on its own, it may well be driven to change by higher prices.’. The report comes as crude oil for August delivery settled Monday at $72.19 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. See futures movers That price is close to the $77.03 nominal high reached nearly a year ago […]
UK scientists have identified a gene they say increases the risk of bowel cancer by 20%. Researchers from London and Edinburgh pinpointed the gene after scanning the DNA of over 30,000 people – half of whom had the disease. Writing in Nature Genetics, they estimate that half the population carry the genetic fault which is associated with one in 10 bowel cancers. However, the increased risk is too small to warrant a genetic test. In the future, as more genes associated with the condition are identified, it may be possible to design a test for a combination of genes to identify those most at risk, improving prevention and diagnosis, the researchers said. Several genes are already known to contribute to bowel cancer risk but are extremely rare among the population accounting for less than 5% of bowel cancer cases every year. But it has been estimated that genetic risk contributes to around a third of cases. DNA analysis Professor Malcolm Dunlop, from the University of Edinburgh and the Medical Research Council’s Human Genetics Unit, compared the DNA of around 8,000 bowel cancer patients from North America, France and Scotland, to that of […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
